When North Koreaput a satellite into orbit last month, it declared that the launch was an exercise of its “right to use space for peaceful purposes” and denounced criticism by the U.S. and others that it was carrying out a ballistic-missile test meant to threaten its neighbors. On Tuesday the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn the launch, which it said was banned under previous resolutions, and moved to strengthen existing sanctions. Today North Korea responded angrily to the Security Council’s move, declaring that it may soon carry out another nuclear test — the isolated totalitarian state’s third — a move its National Defense Commission said was aimed at the U.S.

Any notion that the recent satellite launch was purely peaceful was seemingly blown up in the bellicose statement by the leading military body in the country officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). “We do not hide that a variety of satellites and long-range rockets, which will be launched by the DPRK one after another and a nuclear test of higher level which will be carried out by it in the upcoming all-out action, a new phase of the anti-U.S. struggle that has lasted century after century, will target against the U.S., the sworn enemy of the Korean people,” the defense commission’s statement read, according to the official KCNA news service.

Glyn Davies, U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, who landed in Seoul on Wednesday for a trip that will include visits to China and Japan, said upon his arrival that it would be “a mistake” for North Korea to carry out another nuclear test. “We would call on them not to engage in further provocations, and we are joined by the international community in that appeal,” Davies said in comments made a day before the North Korean defense commission announced nuclear-test plans. “Now is not a time to make the situation on the Korean Peninsula any more tense.”

North Korea and its Kim family rulers are often portrayed as unstable actors, but the latest move follows a well-worn path, says Daniel Pinkston, North East Asia deputy project director for the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization aimed at reducing the risk of military conflict. “Over the years they’ve said the same thing again and again,” says Pinkston. “People say North Koreans are very unpredictable or whatever, but this is very predictable.”

The internal logic of the country’s military-first doctrine means that ideas of international cooperation and collective security are not only ineffective but also dangerous to the survival of the regime. Thus a show of force is how North Korea has typically responded to condemnation of its previous ballistic endeavors, with its 2006 nuclear detonation coming three months after a missile test and its 2009 nuclear test coming just weeks after another missile test. The Security Council’s condemnation of North Korea’s December satellite launch also froze any foreign assets of the country’s space-program leaders and barred two of its leaders and two banking officials from international travel. Such steps will likely anger North Korea, which is still celebrating its first successful satellite launch, says Pinkston. “These people who were named, they’re like their great national heroes,” he says.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry has said that North Korea appears ready to test a nuclear device, the Yonhap news agency reported. China, North Korea’s only major ally, went along with the Security Council’s condemnation of Pyongyang on Tuesday. Responding to the latest threat of a nuclear test, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called for calm and restraint, Reuters reported. A similar line was repeated before the December missile launch, to little avail.

Don't get your knickers in a wad. Here is how it will go down: One night--whether it is a spontaneous demonstration, a deliberate launch, or just a couple of guys out to kill Americans...it won't possibly make any difference...North Korea will launch a missile--said by our intelligence experts to be incapable of delivering a nuclear warhead to America--and, the missile will actually make it and destroy something on the West Coast. Most likely the something will be West Hollywood or the parking structure at Universal City Walk--or some other installation vital to national security.

The intelligence community will be pilloried and they will point fingers at the military, the Department of State, the FBI--and, anything else in their range of sight. The administration will sieze upon something--anything--to explain how this could have happened. Most likely the attack will be blamed upon Israeli intransigence in capitulating to Palestinian demands. The POTUS will insist that none of this could possibly have been foreseen. If possible, they will find a convenient YouTube video to bring into the mix.

The Senate will be opposed to any military response while the House of Reps will demand we turn North Korea into a glass parking lot. The POTUS will pacify the left by uttering sincere apologies to North Korea for America's former rogue-ish behavior and pacify the right by freezing the assets of some obscure terrorist group with no connection to the incident whatsoever. Later, in a speech before the UN the POTUS will curry favor with the Non-Aligned Movement with a laborious explained connection of North Korean actions to the oppression of Palestinians.

The POTUS, VP, and John Kerry (now the Secretary of State) will grimly console the nation in this time of terrible tragedy. Hillary Clinton will be on hand as well to shed a few tears and even possibly clench her fists and stomp her feet in a fit of pique against the radical right. The FBI will be dispatched to China to investigate the entire incident as a criminal offense. Six months later the FBI will still be in China waiting for permission to enter North Korea to interview the usual suspects. It won't actually matter as the entire incident will be forgotten when the main stream media moves on to cover Tot Mom, Casey Anthony, in her run for the House of Representatives from the great state of North Dakota.

Doesn't North Korea receive aid from other countries because they are a poor country? But they have funds to launch rockets and test nuclear bombs? I think the Korean people that worship their fearless leader need to rethink their priorities.

@CrisSleightholm@JohnForsthoffer It's not the government who will suffer. It will be the people who have nothing and no way to get food that will die a slow and painful death from starvation. We can't kill an entire country because a few people in it are insane.

Hey gang; has anyone figured out China loves their little dog North Korean and its schtick. A measured action plan against China from the west might be in order in the form of "here is what we are thinking about if your dog does not behave." And yes China holds U.S. Treasuries and so what. Who is China's biggest customer. Bottom line: it's all business. As Bill Graham said: "It's not about the money; it's the money." So let's show some of that big stick Teddy R talked about.